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[Note from the Proprietor: This is my entry for yet another group writing project (Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!) sponsored by Laity Lodge, a retreat center located right here in the great state of Texas. Check the bottom of this post for details on how you can win a free retreat.]

Have you ever been to a retreat? I’m not talking about like in those old Westerns when the Indians start massing and the bugler sounds the horn, recalling the troops back to the stockade ‘cause things aren’t lookin’ too good.

No, the kind of retreat I mean is a place where you can go and sortof catch your breath. It’s a place to both get away from the daily bustle of life and maybe, just maybe, take stock of things. Even make some life-changing decisions without the distractions of daily life getting in the way.

If you’ve never done it, well trust me, you might want to give it some serious consideration. On the other hand, if you have, then no doubt you probably know: downright powerful things can happen, just because you took the time to get away from it all.

A Singles’ Retreat

Quite a while ago (this was just before I met Mrs. MZM) I attended a church-sponsored retreat for Single Adults that quite literally changed my life. Oh, it isn’t that anybody but me would have noticed, exactly (not like I grew a third eye or something - at least, not where anyone else could, um, see).

No, it was more of a change in outlook. But wow! What a difference it made!

See, what happened is this. For the first time in a while, I spent some time really taking stock of who I was, and compared that with who I believed God wanted me to be. Now I won’t go into specifics here, but suffice it to say I discovered there was something of a discrepancy between the two. Uh-oh.

You know what I mean, right? You imagine yourself to be thus, but when you really take the time to check things out, you discover the unpleasant fact that you’re, well, not quite there yet.

So what to do, what to do?

Well, I had to face up to the cold hard fact that it was time to make some changes. Again, without specifics, let me just say it was an eye-opening time for me. BUT (and that’s a BIG ‘but’) it put me on a path to personal growth that had at least one significant outcome. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

The Divine Miz M(ZM)

Not long after that, I met the future Mrs. MZM, and lo and behold, we hit it off pretty much right away. (I’ve shared parts of this story before.) But as we got to know each other, we discovered something interesting.

By comparing notes (so to speak) we found that, among other things, we’d both been in this church’s Singles group for quite some time. The question was, how had we not met, or even seen each other before now? Then on further investigation, we came to the astonishing conclusion that we’d even gone to many of the same events - yet completely missed each other every time!

For instance, a few weeks before we met, I had taken my camera to the Singles’ 4^th of July picnic, determined to photograph every single person who was there. I kid you not; I had literally hundreds of shots; I was positive I’d captured everybody. But here’s the weird part. We went back and examined every one of ‘em, and would you believe there was not one photo of her? (Although we did find her hand in one shot - she recognized a ring she had on at the time.)

Another time, there was this restaurant the Singles went to after church one day. Both of us could, and did, name the same people sitting next to and across from us. We finally concluded that we must have been actually sitting directly across from each other - yet still never met! Weird, to say the least.

Different Paths, Different Outcomes

So what’s the big, significant outcome of that retreat I mysteriously alluded to earlier? Well…

It’s just that, if I hadn’t gone to that retreat, and consequently spent that time in self-discovery (and just as importantly, made the decision to grow), I honestly think we might never have met. Or had we met, we would probably have never hit it off so well. Why? Because I simply wasn’t the man she needed me to be.

Thank God I was listening that day!

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that, had we never met, I would have become completely destitute, or perhaps shriveled up and died, or even turned into some sort of antithesis of who I am today. But at the very least, I certainly would have missed the incredible blessing of knowing - and being married to - The Most Wonderful Woman in the World.

As far as I’m concerned, I definitely chose the best path.

[If you’d be interested in possibly winning a free retreat up in the Hill Country at Laity Lodge (trust me - it’s in some of the most beautiful parts of Texas), then click this cute little link here and check it out. PLEASE NOTE - To qualify for the free retreat, you must enter by Friday, May 9^th (yes, it’s short notice - sorry!) But if you miss it, all is not lost; you can also earn discounts on two other retreats as long as you get your entry in by May 31^st.]

(photo credit: which way? by jgrantmac)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Actually, this post serves as something of a Public Service Announcement. (You know, one of those things you see on TV or hear on the radio where people or organizations publicly demonstrate they’re watching out for your welfare.)

So consider this post as fair warning: You folks up in the Chicago area (laughingly known to us Texans as “the frozen north”) - well, you’d better hide the silverware! Yep, that’s right; I’m on my way to Chicago on May 2 for the Next Big Thing - SOBCon08 (sound of women and children screaming in fear crowd cheering)!

Liz Strauss, Terry Starbucker, and the whole gang have really gone all-out to make this year’s edition of SOBCon a huge success, and believe you me, it shows! Dubbed as a “Biz School for Bloggers”, it promises to once again be the keystone event of the year:

Whether for love or money, if you blog for readers or community, you’re in the business of blogging. This conference can help you achieve your goals, faster with more confidence, and more predictably.

I must admit, I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not SOBCon08 was right for me or not. After all, the Middle Zone isn’t a business (it’s really more of a state of mind), and I don’t monetize it in any way, shape or form - other than the priceless currency of your readership and good fellowship. But that’s not really what caused me to hesitate.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t understand the value proposition. I mean, when you get right down to it, what is it about SOBCon08 that justifies the not insignificant cost? To put it bluntly, what’s in it for me? (C’mon, admit it; if you’re still unsure about going then you’re probably thinking the same thing.) Naturally, being the pragmatic fellow that I am, I started to wonder - just what are the benefits?

After all, even though I don’t monetize the Middle Zone, that doesn’t mean I won’t try to make money from blogging someday, right? After all, as more and more businesses turn to blogging to get closer to their customers (and quite a few other reasons), the chances are pretty good that I’ll need to better understand the business of blogging, right? Besides, we’re not necessarily talking here about hard cash, you know.

So, if you’re like me (and if you are, I offer my sincere condolences), in no particular order allow me to count the ways…

Knowledge - Like I said, knowing how to do something is never a bad thing, even if you don’t actually, you know, do it. Besides, you never know when you might be able to synthesize that knowledge into some other endeavor, right? Like my old scoutmaster always used to say, “Be prepared.”

Ideas - There’s nothing like being with a large, like-minded (yet still diverse) group of folks to stir up the ol’ creative juices! Not only will you get to hear from 200+ others, at some point we’ll be working in teams to help each other build business plans, action plans, and maybe plain old share an idea or two - whacky or otherwise - that could be useful to us and our customers. This could be worth the price of admission all by itself.

Relationships - It’s a chance to meet up with the folks we may only know electronically. At the last SOBCon, I was still relatively new at it, and didn’t really know too many people. Since then, however, I’ve forged some wonderful relationships - many of whom (or is it who?) will actually be there too. What a great way to strengthen the bonds of friendship! For me, this is probably the biggest immediate benefit. But who knows where it can lead?

Show Off - I know this sounds a bit odd, but the fact is, many of us have grown considerably during the last year. Hey, here’s a chance to demonstrate your own expertise. C’mon; take a bow, why don’t you - there’s nothing wrong with that! After all, we make money off our expertise every day, right? Besides, it gives the rest of us a chance to celebrate and encourage each other, too.

Networking - I’m tellin’ ya, ever since I realized the value of networking for life, I’ve tried never to miss the opportunity. Although in person I tend to be rather shy and retiring (no, really!), it’s something I’ve made myself do because, well, we all benefit from knowing as many people as possible. And I don’t mean just their names, either.

Hey, there’s plenty more than these few things I just listed, but I didn’t want to hog ‘em all. If you’re still sittin’ on the fence, though - well Bubba, why not take a moment to consider these five thoughts. Heck, add your own reasons, why don’cha!

I can tell you this - SOBCon08 promises to add up to one exciting event! Do yourself a favor and drop by the site and sign up. Hey, if you do decide to come, then by all means, drop me a note and let me know. And be sure and tap me on the shoulder (just look for the hat); I’d be downright honored to meet you. I’ll be staying at the Hotel 71 around the corner, so I’ll be close by.

In the meantime, to you folks in Chicago… like I said, you’d better hide the silverware!

See ya!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Have you ever found yourself wondering, just where the heck the money is? Oh, I don’t mean like the gold in Ft. Knox, or even that stuff down in the vault of your local bank. Nope; I’m talking about where the money is to be made. You know, as in “I’ll do X, if you’ll pay me Y.”

I discovered the truth about this many moons ago, back when I worked as a contract Piping Designer. Take my word for it; it was quite a well-paying occupation (although it did require considerable travel - the main reason we’ve lived so very many places).

Admittedly, this type of thing isn’t for everybody. I mean, you never knew; we might end up working just about anywhere in the country. Big cities like Atlanta, or small ones like Lower PoDunk - even other parts of the world, too; it was always a surprise. Like a trouper, though, Mrs. MZM came with me when she could (which luckily was most of the time), so it’s not at bad as it sounds. (Nothing like having your favorite person with you at all times, I always say!)

When I first started in the business, though, it was always puzzling (sound of me, scratching my head) why client companies were willing to pay so much for people like yours truly to do something they could accomplish for half the cost - if they only hired locally. (Not that I was complaining, mind you; I benefited handily; I was just wondering, er, out loud.)

Hey, it’s not a trivial question! Under what circumstances are people (or organizations, for that matter) sometimes willing to pay far more than they need to for an item or service? Don’t you think that knowledge just might be something worth tapping into?

In due course, an assignment in the exciting, bustling metropolis of Robinson, Illinois (population: 6,000 3,000 er, something) linked me up with an old hand who finally supplied the answer to this age-old question. His name was Jerry Arledge, and he was quite a character, lemme tell ya! (Hey, you think I have an accent! If Jerry were blogging today, if you imagine the slow-talkin’, down-home, well-weathered voice of an old farmer who’s “seen it all” - well, you wouldn’t be too far off.)

Yep; ol’ Jerry was somethin’, all right. (Alas for the contract piping community, Jerry’s taken a permanent position at that great drafting board in the sky; he will be missed!) I’ll tell ya what, though - he knew how things worked. One day I brought up this very question (trust me; sooner or later, somebody will bring it up at some point during any assignment) and Jerry gave us some interesting insights I’d like to share with you here.

5 Reasons They Need You

• Skill - One thing I learned early about being a contract employee: if you don’t tend towards excellence, the system tends to weed you out pretty fast. If not from fellow contract workers (who don’t like it when someone incompetent represents them), then the placement agencies or the companies themselves eventually get the word. It’s an great illustration of an old west Texas truth: it’ll all come out in the wash. Yep; sooner or later, the truth will come out.

• Time - Sometimes, the client just doesn’t have enough people available to do it in the time frame required (which in these cases is usually immediately or sooner!) So they bring on extra, temporary help to accomplish the task. In the engineering business it’s what we used to call the “Brown & Root method” of project management: For any given 10,000 manhour job, you hire 10,000 men for one hour! (Surely you’re familiar with the practice? And yes, I know; don’t call you Shirley.) But the inevitable consequence is they must be willing to pay big bucks for the help.

• Vision - On occasion, the client firm doesn’t have the experience to see what needed to be done. That’s when we had the opportunity to really shine. Our goal was to do such a fantastic job that when they needed to do it again, they’d immediately think of us!

• Resources - Smaller firms (and nowadays, some larger firms too) simply don’t have the resources to keep specific skills on hand all the time, either from a lack of funds, or due to intermittent needs. We functioned as an outsourced engineering and drafting force, on call whenever they needed us, but not a drain on resources when they didn’t. In fact, many large operating companies are doing this very thing today in the form of alliance agreements. It’s a win for both parties.

• Uncertainty - I’ll tell ya; I’ve lost track of the times I’ve been on projects where the final design is, well, let’s just say it wasn’t quite there yet. And in these cases, it’s been my observation that the organization’s regular employees, had they been subject to the vagaries we’d be subject to, would have run screaming into the night long before! It’s not that we were necessarily any better or worse than they were, mind you; it’s just that we were used to the inherent uncertainties of fast-paced work. (Even to the point of knowing that, when the job was finished, the best we’d hear was something along the lines of, “Thank you very much - now good bye!”)

The Key: Make Yourself Invaluable

As you look these over, think about what it is you do. Are you an independent worker, basically operating on your own (although I still say that’s a huge misnomer - you’re actually now working for everybody, instead of just one or two bosses). Even if you’re a regular, salaried employee, the fact is these things can still apply to you.

Are you looking for the money? Well, the fact is, it doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Take a look at what you’re doing - and what you’re capable of - and identify the above five elements. Then, focus your efforts on being your client’s best solution to every one of them!

Ironically, of those five items, that last one was Jerry’s favorite. And to this day, I can still hear him sum it up in that typically down-home way of his:

“Where there is confusion,” he’d smile, “there is money to be made.”

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

[Note: This is my entry for our current What I Learned From… group writing project. This month’s topic is “the Law”. If you’d like to participate, just go here and read all about it!]

Last week I mentioned our trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. For two weeks we traveled all over that incredible city, but I gotta say, if I had to pick one thing that absolutely amazed me the most - it was the traffic!

Try to picture the scene with me…

Everyday Chaos

We’re at a downtown intersection in the heart of Sao Paulo. (For simplicity, let’s imagine one road goes north-south; the other goes east-west.) The streets are wide - 6 lanes (3 in each direction) - so there’s lots of room. Next to that on either side are broad sidewalks, crowded with a teeming mass of humanity.

Now, in the north-south direction, the traffic light turns red. On one side, three cars pull up to the white line, each in their own lane, while the same happens on the opposite side. East-west traffic and pedestrians flow back and forth in front of them. So far, so good.

Then, a car squeezes in between two of the three cars on our side and lines up too. Now there’re four abreast. Ditto on the opposite side of the intersection. Yet another one pulls up, making it five abreast - but this time, he’s on the sidewalk! (Pedestrians seem to take this in stride.) A few heartbeats later, one or two more pull up to the left of the original three, lined up - believe it or not - in the oncoming traffic lanes!

This process kept building until, just before the light changed, there were two unbroken line of cars in a dramatic face-off on either side of the intersection. It was a surreal, urban gun carslingers, wild-west kind of scene. As the drivers waited for the signal, lead feet poised over their gas pedals, I could almost hear the theme song from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly playing in the background.

The moment the light turned green, it was like the flag at the Indianapolis 500; every single driver did their level best to squeeze back into the original three lanes! I’ll never know how they avoided leaving a mangled mess of cars and total gridlock at every single intersection in town.

And the traffic chaos wasn’t limited to just intersections, either. As we went from place to place (we had interpreters with us who were often our drivers as well), it wasn’t unusual for other cars, if they had room, to squeeze between lanes of traffic.

Needless to say, it was disconcerting at best to be that close to other vehicles while zinging through traffic - especially with the buses! (I lost count of the times I could have easily written my name in the dust on the side of a bus next to us - we were that close!)

It got to the point when I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I just had to say something to our driver. My mind raced through several possible comments, rejecting them all because they might be, well, insulting. Finally, I tried this one: “Nobody seems to stay in their lanes,” I observed as diplomatically as I could.

He glanced over at me for a moment and chuckled. “That’s true,” he acknowledged ruefully. “A few years ago, the city government painted all these pretty dashed lines in the road to mark out traffic lanes. Unfortunately, they never told anyone what they meant!”

Laws, Laws Everywhere

[Note from the Proprietor: Please bear with me as I pontificate a bit; I’m taking advantage of my own guidelines to be as eloquent as I like. I promise there’s a point in here somewhere. Now, where did I put that pesky thing…?]

Y’know; everywhere you look there are laws, laws, and more laws. Some are fundamental, like the Law of Gravity (that’s the one that states that everything that starts up, eventually falls - like my chest. *sigh*) or the First Law of Thermodynamics (energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it just takes the day off every now and then to lie on the couch with a beer and the remote).

But let’s talk a bit about man-made laws; laws that help us coexist together at some level below, well, chaos. These laws, generally speaking, were put into place (at least, nominally) to help us to live together in harmony. Don’t do this; do that - the list goes on and on.

The aforementioned traffic intersection is a great example of what happens when there are no specific laws that cover a particular situation. Eventually, all you’ll end up with is chaos - and believe me, it ain’t pretty!

But can laws by themselves really make people better? Can making it illegal, for instance, to drive on the sidewalk, or drink and drive, or stealing from their next door neighbor, actually prevent people from doing it anyway?

Interesting question, don’t you think? The answer, of course, is a resounding no (sound of resounding NO). Nope; what keeps people from doing these is the threat of punishment. (And before you jump up and shout, “But what about doing it, not because we have to, but because it’s right?” - well, we’ll get to that in a minute.)

See, the law, in and of itself, is not capable of changing us. All it can do is teach us how to be better (I use better in the figurative sense. I’ll be the first to acknowledge there may be - no, are - some stupid laws. But that’s a critter of a different persuasion.)

“Well, Doctor Bob,” you may be asking yourself about now, “then what’s the point of the law?”

To which I say in all seriousness, “Bubba, you just asked the right question!”

The Law as a Schoolteacher

Now, before we go any further, consider this quote from the Apostle Paul…

The Law controlled us and kept us under its power until the time came when we would have faith. In fact, the Law was our teacher. It was supposed to teach us until we had faith and were acceptable to God. But once a person has learned to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher. (Galatians, 3:23-26)

So what’s he talking about? Well, as a matter of fact, he’s talking about the Law of Moses, the set of rules, life instructions, and commentary that had guided every living Jew for thousands of years. The Law, as Paul pointed out, acted like a teacher. The Law taught people how to live.

But then he goes on to say something very interesting. Once a person developed faith (in this case, he’s talking about faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, but the principle applies to our discussion here), then the Law was no longer needed. Why? Because faith made it unnecessary.

It’s a Matter of Faith

Now, you may be wondering, “Just how on this little green Earth could faith make the law unnecessary?” Hey, I so glad you asked! (And by the way, here’s that point I said was comin’.) See, the fundamental difference between living by the law and living by faith is the matter of where it resides: Figuratively speaking, the law lives in the mind, but faith - ah, faith lives in the heart.

Stop and think about it for a minute (sound of millions of grinding gears). Can the mind control the heart? (It’s OK, you don’t have to answer out loud.) Well, I’d have to go with “no” on that one. Ah, but can the heart control the mind? Most definitely!

The result? Well, instead of obeying laws because we’re afraid of punishment (or other negative consequences, such as 50-car pileups in intersections), we obey them because we believe it’s the right thing to do. We believe they’ll make things better - for everyone, including us! (And on a side note: our attitude towards the law reveals an awful lot about ourselves don’cha think?)

See? It’s a matter of the heart, not the mind.

So when it comes to the law, I’d say the most important thing I’ve ever learned from it is that adherence to the law isn’t some mindless act. No, it’s an expression of my heart’s decision to do the right thing.

And when you get right down to it, that’s a matter of faith.

(last image: Hearts and Minds, by Mad Paul)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Y’know; lately I can’t seem to get the word can’t out of my mind (not even when I use my best Sam Kinnison impression: Get out! Get out! Get Oooouuuuuttttt!)

For instance, when I was a kid, I heard it all the time (”Hey, you can’t do that; you’re just a kid!) As a teenager, it was practically non-stop (”You can’t do that; you’re just a teenager!”) So by the time I was finally an adult (18 or 21 years, depending on the state you live in - and the State of Insanity doesn’t count), I’d heard it so many times I thought it was my middle name!

As a child in grade school, I used to play imaginary games of space exploration and adventure. My friends, when they discovered that, used to tell me, “You can’t do that! Nobody goes to space!” ‘Course, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin proved them all wrong.

I also made little toy models of moon rockets, lunar exploration vehicles, and habitats because I wanted to go live on the moon. My friends said, “You can’t do that! Nobody goes to the moon!” But in 1969, somebody did.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. The process of growing up necessitates the testing our environment, searching for boundaries. Hey, we all did it.

But sometimes I think all those can’t’s (?), if there’s enough of ‘em, eventually get to the point where they solidify in our brains like - well, like those little particles of sediment in the ocean. Given time, they make their way into the deepest, darkest places, piling thicker and thicker; turning into a thick layer of goo that eventually solidifies into rock-hardness for time immemorial.

So I guess it’s only natural for you to hear the word can’t when it comes to doing something outside of your normal experience. I mean, it’s what you’ve heard all your life, right?

Allow me to introduce you to Team Hoyt.

We heard Dick Hoyt speak for the first time at our Ignite (Eek! He mentioned it again!) convention last weekend. During his talk, they showed their DVD “It’s only a Mountain”, and I’m tellin’ ya; it was absolutely riveting!

Dick’s son Rick was severely handicapped due to an accident at birth, and he’s pretty much confined to a wheelchair for life. Now, I’ll bet here’s a couple of guys who’ve heard the word can’t all their lives! But, amazingly enough, it hasn’t stopped them from making an impact on the world.

Together, these guys have participated in, let’s see - at last count it was 938 track & field events, including (among a host of other events):

• 65 marathons, including 25 Boston Marathons
• 224 Triathalons
• Biked/ran across the U.S. (3,745 miles in 45 consecutive days)

In addition to that, they now travel the world, creating awareness of the issues the disabled face every day, while actively helping the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Rick communicates with the world through a special computer interface that prints his thoughts on the screen. It’s slow, of course, but it reveals an uncommonly sharp mind, hidden inside the misshapen body.

The video ended with a few of Rick’s computer-generated words summing up his experiences. In the foreground, you can see his computer screen displaying the letter “C”. As he continues to talk, the letter “A” appears. Finally, the last letter becomes visible:

C…. A…. N….

I couldn’t have said it better!

(top photo: Absolutely Nothing is Allowed here, by Vickie and Chuck Rogers - Best Friends)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

OK, I’ve been prognosticating a lot lately about goals, motivation, taking a leap, etc., and in the meantime painting a somewhat rosy picture of life as it could, and perhaps should, be. So… by now you’ve considered everything and finally decided to go for it. Great!

BUT (and note; that’s a BIG “but”!) what happens when you hit those (sound of terrified screaming) inevitable bumps in the road?

Like, for instance, that surreal encounter last week with the World’s Most Irrational Customer. Or, that time your computer choose the worst possible moment to have a hissy fit (which is something like a tizzy, but… more so) and eradicate your customer files. Maybe you accidentally transposed a couple of digits on your phone number before you had your business cards printed, and now people are getting Joe-Bob’s Discount House of Meat instead of you.

In other words (warning! metaphor alert!), you’re blithely flying along when, with no warning whatsoever, something takes the wind right out from underneath you?

A few of you may remember this - aside from my day job as a Consultant, I have my own business on the side with a company called Ignite (it’s quite amazing; we show folks how they can earn residual income from their energy bills). Our annual convention was in Dallas this past weekend, and lemme tell ya; it was quite the shindig! (Despite the, er, rather tempestuous weather that sorta stomped through the area.)

During one session, a 29-year Sr. Captain for American Airlines (who, after three years, also happens to be one of our top money-earners) was explaining that a lot of people ask him why he started an Ignite business. For his answer, he shared this story…

Come Fly With Me!

Ever had one of those mornings? Recently he and his copilot had something of an adventure on a flight from Dallas to, er, somewhere (sorry; can’t remember!).

Upon receiving clearance, he pushed the throttles forward and the aircraft smoothly started its roll. Unfortunately, as they reached “rotate” speed (which by the way, is well past the “point of no return”), one of their two engines began losing power. Needless to say, this is not a good time for that to happen!

Anyway, as they left the ground, he and his copilot calmly managed to correct for it (all those years of experience count for something!) by pushing that engine’s throttle nearly all the way forward. After a moment or two, everything seemed to be OK, so like many similar incidents, they didn’t bother mentioning it to the, er, passengers. (Besides, it’s not something I’d want to know!)

However, as they reached about 700 feet of altitude, the right-hand engine suddenly let loose with four loud bangs: BANG… BANG… BANG…….. BANG! (Kinda hard to hide that from the passengers!)

He looked at his copilot and told him, in a remarkable bit of understatement,“That’s not good!”

Well, after nothing further happened, they continued to climb - until they encountered severe wind shear! (For those who don’t know, wind shear is a sudden sideways movement of air. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? But wind shear can completely eliminate the lift beneath an aircraft’s wings. Exceedingly dangerous at the wrong moment - like, during takeoff.)

Almost immediately, the plane dropped like a stone for a few seconds (several hundred feet), tossing anything loose into the air (luckily everybody was still buckled in!) After a few seconds, though, they got through it and proceeded to flight altitude. Whew!

He looked over at his copilot and said, “This never happens at my Ignite meetings!”

The Perils of Pauline

The thing is, when it comes to any endeavor, you just have to expect a few glitches to appear. It’s like death, taxes, and loss of hair; they’re pretty much inevitable. Stuff just has a way of happening no matter how well you’ve planned, schemed, or prayed. Life is like that, you know?

So what you gotta do, see (you have to use your Jimmy Cagney “gangster voice” here for the full effect), is make sure you’re prepared, see? And as usual, see, it’s not in the planning, see, it’s in the execution. See? (OK, you can stop now. Please.)

I think this guy’s story is a perfect example of how “things happen”, and we can learn how to handle them by dissecting it a bit and taking note of a few things. These are not necessarily in any particular order of importance (although some are obviously preliminaries to others).

Take care of the preliminaries first. Although this point is merely implied by the story, it’s still an extremely important point. There’s a lot to do before you actually get to the starting point of any journey. Research, planning, brainstorming… and that’s just to decide whether you’re going to get out of bed! (I’m kidding… right?) You can’t afford to skimp on this stuff, either - it’s the foundation of whatever you want to accomplish!

Apply the power and commit! (May you never grow tired of hearing that!) I remember seeing a poster in the production office of an Atlanta automobile manufacturing plant that read, “Sooner or later there comes a time when you have to shoot the engineers and start production.” As an engineer, it gave me pause… but as a human being, well, I understood the sentiment perfectly! There comes a time when you’ve planned enough and it’s just time to go. (This one’s for you, Joanna!

Stay focused. As you launch yourself into the wild blue yonder, remember to keep in the forefront of your brain the reason you’re doing this in the first place (your motivation, or your “why”). In the Bible, the apostle Paul used the metaphor of a race, admonishing us to “keep our eyes on the prize” at all costs. As long as you have that end state in mind, if something happens to distract you, it will always be the compass that puts you back on course.

React as quickly as possible. When something happens (and it will!), don’t procrastinate, search for blame, assume it’ll fix itself, or do any other of a hundred things that will keep you from taking care of it right away. Trust me; the longer you wait, the harder it will be to deal with later. It’s like regular dentist’s visit; they’re no picnic, but they sure beat losing all your teeth!

Have a support system in place. On any flight, both the pilot and copilot are fully occupied with the operation of the aircraft. I mean, it’s a somewhat complex piece of equipment, wouldn’t you say? Who’s to say your endeavor isn’t any less important? Surround yourself with folks who can serve as mentors, sounding boards, and sometimes just provide a word of encouragement. You’ll be glad you did - and you’ll go much farther, too.

Don’t let down your guard. It never fails, right? Just when you get one little challenge taken care of, yet another one - or three - pops up on the radar (or in your lap). See items #3 & 4 - keep focused and be ready to take care of it (or them) with no hesitation.

Be prepared to own up. Many times, challenges arise and are dealt with in such a way that nobody else even knows something’s up. But there are those times… Hey, there are at least a bazillion examples of politicians, celebrities or sports figures (and possibly even that person in the mirror) who didn’t own up to an issue, only to have it get far worse than it would have been if they had just admitted it to begin with, right?

Don’t stop! Sometimes, even if everything is going just peachy keen (which is a euphemism for swell), circumstances beyond your control will sneak up on you and simply knock the wind out from under your wings - just for the fun of it. Er, so to speak. What do you do, give up? Absolutely not! (Sound of fist banging on desk!) No, you keep going! You have to remember the plain and simple fact that it’s only a localized effect. Get past it (and don’t forget the corollary: learn from it) and everything will most likely be fine. (If that’s not enough, go back to steps #3, 4 & 5.)

Finally, if you’ve done all the above faithfully, and things just continue to go wrong no matter what you do…

Rethink your goals. It’s no shame to try something and fail (although you, like me, have likely been raised to think that way.) The fact is, despite the best planning and intentions, well, not every goal is necessarily achievable. (For instance, after considerable soul-searching, I have finally come to the disheartening realization that *sigh* I’ll never be a spaceman.) Maybe there are other, more worthy goals out there for you to aim for. Lots of great achievers can relate to that!

Rethink your strategy. OK, you’ve re-evaluated your goals and still think they’re right for you. Then you need to rethink your strategy for achieving them. Try a different approach. Think outside the duodecahedron (sorry, no boxes here!) Find a way. For most achievable goals, there are as many ways to get there as there are… people who reach them. It’s up to you to find it!

So what do you say? I’m sure there are other tips you might be thinking of as well. Got any good examples of the above items you care to share with us?

Why not contribute to the General Body of Knowledge here at the Zone and put them in the comment box?

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Two things about change are well known:

• As a rule, people hate change, and
• Change is inevitable

It’s ironic, huh? That the one thing pretty much everybody is universally adverse to - is impossible to avoid? (Ironic, as you know, is an ancient Arabic expression that means made entirely of iron.)

But am I correct in thinking it’s really not change that’s so hard to deal with; it’s the fear of change? I don’t know; maybe I’m splitting hairs, here.

But over the years it’s been my observation that, generally speaking, once I’m in the midst of a big life change, my life actually becomes easier. It’s the anticipation of the change that’s so hard on me! (Could it be because I’m too busy dealing with what changed to be afraid of it any more? Hmmm… have to think about that. What do you think?)

If that’s the case, though, then it sorta begs the question doesn’t it? How exactly do you get a handle on managing something you’d rather not even think about? How do you overcome the fear of change?

Oddly enough, I picked up a few tips on that from, well, a really, really big… Ferris wheel (sound of rimshot)!

What Goes Up…

Back in the Spring of 2000, Mrs. MZM and I spent a few days in Paris, just kinda wandering around and exploring the place. Among other things, we visited the Eiffel Tower (of course!), took a nighttime boat ride down the Seine (ooh-la-la!), checked out the Arc du Triomphe, and generally did the tourist thing for a few days.

But when we arrived at the Plaza de la Concorde we stumbled across, of all things, this absolutely humongous Ferris wheel! (Click on the photo for an, er, humongous view. Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Er, sorry.)

Now, ordinarily I’m not impressed by Ferris wheels. I mean, what’s the big deal? You get on, you go around and around a few times, you get off. Big whoop. But I must admit; this time size, er, mattered! I’m tellin’ ya; this thing was enormous!

See those passenger cars? Although they don’t look that big, each one of them was actually about 8 to10 feet wide and high (about 3 meters or so). There was room to comfortably seat about 8 people in each one.

Anyway, since it was the off-season (April) and there were virtually no tourists around, we got our pick of cars and climbed in. While we were waiting for the thing to start (who were we waiting for? There was nobody but us!), we just chatted about odds and ends - stuff we were planning to do next, my previous trip to Paris and how it compared with this one, etc.

Eventually we started moving, so smoothly and slowly that you literally couldn’t feel a thing (a very weird feeling, that; like the world is moving and we’re the ones standing still). Mrs. MZM, though, didn’t seem to react; we continued talking for several minutes until finally I pointed out the window at the Eiffel Tower (several miles away) and remarked about the incredible view.

[By the way, did I ever mention that Mrs. MZM is, er, sorta uncomfortable with heights? I accidentally discovered this during our honeymoon in Hawaii, when I pulled her up with me to the top of a 6-foot high wall to get a better view - and she couldn’t get down! So when I suggested we go for a ride on this thing, she was understandably nervous. But like the trooper she is, she was willing to give it a try.]

Anyway, once I pointed out the view, she turned around and stared, struck suddenly speechless. We’d moved from ground level to about 200 feet in the air, and to her amazement she hadn’t even noticed!

As a matter of fact, once she overcame the shock, from that point on she experienced no trepidation at all, even when we got a bonus - the operator stopped us right at the very top for about 10 minutes (as I said, we were the only riders). What a view!

The Four Fundamentals

So what was it that not only allowed Mrs. MZM to pretty much overcome her fear, but let her to truly enjoy an admittedly out-of-the-box (for her) experience? What specifically made the difference?

Well, after due consideration, I can think of several reasons.

• First, the Ferris wheel looked big, solid, and well built - nothing like those rickety things you see at most carnivals.
• Second, she could trust in the fact that I’d be right there with her, holding her hand (so if anything went terribly wrong, hey, at least we’d crash and burn together!)
• Third, lots of other people had survived the experience just fine.
• Fourth, the transition from stationary to moving was so smooth it was hardly noticeable.

The first three items are why she was willing to try it. But the last one is why she enjoyed it.

Now, after cogitating on that a bit, I came to realize something interesting. This list can also be useful to help us manage… change. So let’s look at how a ride on the biggest Ferris wheel I’ve ever seen can teach us valuable lessons about overcoming the fear of change.

Fundamental #1 - Is it solid and well built?

OK, let’s say there’s something you’d really like to accomplish, but it’s a bit out of your comfort zone. Hey, great - at least you’ve got a goal! Now, what’s the plan for accomplishing it? Is it solid, like the structure of that Ferris wheel? Is it well-crafted and sensible? Those are the questions you have to ask yourself before putting your trust in a plan.

But there’s an underlying question too. Is the thing you want to accomplish worth it? (For us, it was the view from the top that motivated us to get on board.) See, it’s all about motivation. Once you’ve assured yourself of the value of the goal, then motivation kicks in to make the doing much, much easier.

After all, there’s lots of things I’d simply rather not do (I think we can all relate to that!) But it’s the value of the result that is important to me, more than the thing I’m afraid of. So, I do them!

Fundamental #2 - Can you put your trust in it?

Chances are, there is something that sortof leads us to do pretty much everything, whether it’s a person, an inspiring bit of reading, or perhaps a principle. For Mrs. MZM, it was yours truly. The fact is, she would never have gotten on board if I hadn’t encouraged her - and accompanied her.

Yep; that’s a key point right there. Do you have any kind of support system for what you want to do? Are there others who are going with you? Cheering you on? Providing backup?

Fundamental #3 - Has it been done before?

I’m going to go out on a limb here (sound of branch beginning to snap) and say this: Chances are, you’re not the first one to do it! It’s highly likely that there is plenty of hysterical historical evidence that what you want to accomplish is indeed not only possible, but is being done every day! Unfortunately, in our *ahem* analysis, we usually concentrate on our own fear so much we miss that little detail.

After all, it was reasonable to assume (since it was still in business, and we couldn’t see any ambulances ‘standing by’) that plenty of folks had successfully negotiated this particular Ferris wheel - and lived to tell about it.

So check out the evidence of success that’s likely just a Google search away. Hey, you never know; you might be able to come up with a new way of accomplishing what turns out to be a not-so-uncommon thing!

Fundamental #4 - Can you take it slow (at first)?

OK, you’ve got your goal, and let’s say it’s a big, hairy, audacious one. Great! You’re comfortable with the plan, you’ve got your support system in place, and you know it can be done. Even better! Now, how do you turn that goal into action? Break it down into manageable steps.

But… what if there’s maybe one or two steps that make you nervous. OK let’s be honest - they scare you to death (sound of terrified scream). You’re not even sure you can do them.

Hey, the answer is as easy as - riding a big, giant Ferris wheel (sound of audience groaning and rolling their eyes)! Start off as slowly as you need to, build up to a comfortable speed, then hit it!

So What Did I Miss?

It’s kinda interesting, when you think about it. Wandering around Paris, just enjoying the sights, who would’ve thought we’d stumble across a life lesson that would help us manage many of the big changes we’ve experienced in our lives since then?

So what about it? Am I on the right track here? Or should I go back to my day job as a crash-test dummy? I realize this barely scratches the surface of this issue, so I’d like to know what you would add to the fundamentals listed above.

______________________

Sadly, while writing this article I discovered my favorite Ferris wheel is no longer there. Apparently there was a dispute between the owner and the city, and it ended up being dismantled a few years back. Too bad.

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